The Bottom LineLenovo's Yoga 2 11 combines the popular Yoga hybrid design with an affordable 11-inch ultraportable for a system that's budget-feeling but sturdy, and one of the best of a new breed of low-cost hybrids.

7.2 Overall

Design8.0

Features7.0

Performance7.0

Battery life7.0

Review Sections

HP's recent Pavilion x360 promises a full-featured fold-back hybrid design in an 11-inch ultraportable body, for about the same price as a basic budget laptop. Dell's Inspiron 3000 offers much the same thing. Lenovo, the company that made this design popular in the first place with its Yoga series, also sees the need to bring hybrids to budget shoppers, which explains the 11-inch Yoga 2 11.

Like the recent 13-inch Yoga 2, this version keeps the 360-degree fold-back hinge from previous-gen Yogas, but cuts some of the higher-end features, such as better-than-HD displays or ultra-thin designs. At the entry level prices we're looking at, the Yoga 2 11 is also powered by an Intel Pentium CPU, rather than a Core i-series, although those are available as well.

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Speaking of prices, if you want to buy anything from Lenovo, you're usually better off buying one of the company's identical, or ever-so-slightly different, models made especially for Best Buy. Same machines, often with lower prices. In this case, a Yoga 2 11 with a Pentium CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive is $530 (£450) from Lenovo (down to $490 for a Celeron CPU, available only in the US). In the US, from Best Buy, the same configuration is a very reasonable $450. (Similar models are not available in Australia, where the only Yoga 2 11 available costs AU$1,000.)

Upgraded, US-only models include a version with a Core i3 CPU for $579, and a Core i5 with a 128GB SSD for $699 -- reasonable, but not exactly bargains, considering the budget-feeling design.

Some configurations of the HP x360 cost less than the Lenovo, but the Yoga has a couple of distinct advantages which make it worth the extra money. It's thinner, lighter, feels a little more solidly built, and -- most importantly -- it has a decent 1,366x768 11.6-inch display. In contrast, the HP x360 has a simply awful display that looks much worse when comparing the two systems side-by-side.

HP Pavilion 11 x360

Lenovo Yoga 2 (11-inch)

Dell XPS 11

Price as reviewed

$474

$449

$1,399

Display size/resolution

11.6-inch 1,366x768 touchscreen

11.6-inch 1,366x768 touchscreen

11.6-inch 2,560x1,440 touchscreen

PC CPU

2.16GHz Intel Pentium N3520

2.16GHz Intel Pentium N3520

1.5GHz Intel Core i5 4210Y

PC Memory

8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz

4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333

4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1600MHz

Graphics

32MB Intel HD Graphics

32MB Intel HD Graphics

1792MB (shared) Intel HD Graphics HD 4200

Storage

500GB 5,400rpm HDD

500GB 5,400rpm HDD

256GB SSD

Optical drive

None

None

None

Networking

802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0

802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0

802.11a/c wireless, Bluetooth 4.0

Operating system

Windows 8.1 (64-bit)

Windows 8.1 (64-bit)

Windows 8.1 (64-bit)

Design and features

The basic idea behind a fold-back hinge hybrid is the same across products from Dell, Lenovo, HP, and others. You can position the system as a traditional clamshell laptop, then bend the lid backward, past 180 degrees, stopping at a kiosk or table tent form in the middle, or else folding it all the way back into a tablet shape.

It's a concept we've supported since the original Lenovo Yoga model, and it's telling that both Microsoft and Best Buy used the Yoga extensively in Windows 8 launch ad campaigns to describe the utility of the Windows 8 tile menu and touchscreens.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Why this over pull-apart hybrids or ones with screens that swivel around on a central hinge? The fold-back hinge does the least to interfere with the traditional clamshell laptop design; and it's relatively inexpensive to engineer, according to our conversations with PC makers.

An 11-inch laptop, hybrid or not, needs to be portable. And while the Yoga 2 11 isn't the slimmest or lightest ultraportable around, it presents itself well in this price range. The HP x360 weighs 3.3 pounds (1.5kg), while the 11-inch Yoga 2 is only 2.8 pounds (1.3kg). By way of comparison, the 11-inch MacBook Air is 2.4 pounds (1.1kg).

The keyboard on the Yoga 2 11 is about as good as the one of the HP x360, with each having its own advantages. The Lenovo's keys have that familiar convex shape, slightly bowed out at the bottom edge of each key for fewer miss strokes, while the HP version has keys that feel less clacky, and with less flex in the keyboard tray while typing.

Sarah Tew/CNET
The touch pad has a clickpad-style design, giving you a touch surface without separate physical left and right mouse buttons. Two-finger scrolling works, but the small pad and small screen means navigation, especially in large, multi-page documents, can be a pain.

The biggest difference between this system and HP's x360 version is the 11.6-inch 1,366x768 display. The HP screen is washed-out and often hard to see, while the Yoga 2 11 has a bright, clear IPS screen that immediately looks much better in comparison. It's not the higher screen resolutions people are quickly becoming used to in nearly every type of gadget, but for under $500, it works. More importantly, you can easily share what's on-screen with a group in tablet or kiosk mode, while the HP x360 screen would make the same material hard for some to see.

Lenovo Yoga 2 11 Ports and Connections

Video

micro-HDMI

Audio

Stereo speakers, combo headphone/microphone jack

Data

1 USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0, SD card reader

Networking

802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Optical drive

None

Connections, performance, and battery

One area where the HP x360 kills the Yoga 2 11 is in ports and connections. The HP has a full-size HDMI port and Ethernet jack, both features the Yoga lacks. One additional quirky complaint -- I've always found the power buttons on Yoga laptop, placed along the side edge, to be too small and hard to see at a glance.

Both the x360 and the Yoga 2 use one of Intel's current-gen Pentium CPUs. If you expect mainstream laptop performance, on par with a Core i5 or even i3 machine, you're not going to get that, but then again, you won't find those Core i-series CPUs, outside of an occasional holiday promo, for under $450.

Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of laptops, desktops, and Windows tablets, while also writing about games, gadgets, and other topics. A former radio DJ and member of Mensa, he's written about music and technology for more than 15 years, appearing in publications including Spin, Blender, and Men's Journal.
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